Past, Present and Yet to Come
by EliH2
Summary: JD's life hits an all time low, as does Dr. Cox's treatment of him. The universe intervenes. Is JD's life as charmed as it seems? What about his future? Loosely based on Dickens's A Christmas Carol. JDA and DCA on JD's behalf.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first Scrubs story. I just started reading Scrubs fics not too long ago, and it has since become my favorite fandom. So… this is me giving back! Plus I want to write a Christmas themed story, and this seemed like a good idea. I don't know if anyone has done anything like it before, but if they have, I sincerely apologize. I swear I didn't mean to steal your idea! This could be set in season six. For the purposes of this story, JD still lives on his porch (and is aware of his vasovagal syncope, but not the fact that Kim didn't miscarry.) Anywho, this is not going to be slash, so sorry all you people who might have been hoping for that. And this is loosely inspired by **_**A Christmas Carol**_** by Charles Dickens, which, obviously, I do not own. Nor do I own Scrubs.**

Perry Cox loathed Christmas. For the life of him, he could not understand what was so god damn appealing about the cold, mythological births, miserable family gatherings and selfish commercialism. The obnoxiously cheerful demeanor of others didn't help his sour mood. Honest to God, he understood why the holidays were the time of year when the most people committed suicide.

To make matters even more miserable, Jordan had decided that she and Jack needed some quality time with her mother. So, prescribed bed rest or not, she had decided to take his family away from him in this supposedly wonderful time of year.

"We-ell, Merry Christmas Eve to you Perry!" No. If ah-ah-ahnything could make his life even mo-ore miserable it was listening to Newbie flap his girly mouth on and on and on and on and on about just how _lovely_ it was that Christmas was _finally_ here! And did she re-ha-healy just call him _Perry?_ Oh, that little girl was so-ho dead. Growling, he turned around slowly, baring his teeth. When he was finally facing the object of annoyance, he aimed his best make-interns-wet –themselves glare. "How would you like to attend my Christmas party tomorrow? It's going to absolutely fabulous!"

Dr. Cox's growl became even more menacing. "Deh-bra!" he spat out, "First of all, let me compliment you on that _stunning_ holiday dress of yours. Makes you look so ve-he-heary slim, but still emphasizes your womanly curves. And second of all, I care so very little about you or any exciting sleepover parties that you and your little gal pals have planned that even by hearing your annoyingly chipper query just now, I'm wasting my both my time and brain cells that could be used actually doing something useful like, I don't know, _saving lives?!_ So hows about you lose the Santa hat, drop the plate of cookies, realize that _no one cares,_ and do your JOB!" Pausing just long enough to see the pleasure leave his eyes, he pushed past him with another growl.

"So, C-bear, what time should I expect you and Carla at my Christmas bash?" JD asked Turk nonchalantly.

"Dude!" Turk replied. "I already told you! We can't come. This is Izzy's first Christmas, and we both think that she should spend it with family. Besides, none of them have really gotten the chance to meet her yet. Sorry dude."

JD smiled gamely. "It's okay brown bear, I get it. I mean when Kim has…er… if Kim hadn't miscarried, I would have wanted my family to meet my kid too. I totally get it."

"Oh, JD!" Elliot said, skidding to a stop. "I know I said that I was gonna come to your thing tomorrow, but Keith and I think that Christmas would be an awesome day to have a romantic dinner, you know? I'm really, really sorry about this. But would that be okay with you? If not, the two of us could come…"

JD cut her off, "No, no, its fine. No one else can come anyway; I guess I'll just… go see my family. Yeah. It'll be a good."

As Dr. Cox overheard Newbie's friends systematically reject him, he couldn't help but feel a small twinge of guilt. Quickly clamping down on it, he reminded himself that the kid's life was charmed. He was the golden boy of the hospital, had great friends, and a happy, normal childhood. As far as his pathetic attempt to have a Christmas party went, everyone had their own things to do, and Pricilla's family would probably spend the whole time fawning over him and generally spoiling his sorry ass. Newbie had had it easy, Perry hadn't. Newbie had it easy. Perry didn't. It was simple as that. Feeling guilty was absolutely ridiculous.

**TBC**

**Review! Tell me what you think, give me suggestions; tell me I suck, whatever. Just review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey guys! I'm back with more. And yes, in the future, chapters will be longer. The first one was particularly short because I wanted to introduce the story without giving too much away. On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except a ridiculous amount of clothes and a fairly large ego. Don't sue me. Please.**

**---**

_Ding_

The elevator doors opened smoothly. For a moment, Dr. Cox continued to lean against the wall before sighing, and sticking his hand between the doors just in time to prevent them from closing. Stepping into the hallway, he trod towards the door to his apartment, watching his feet as he went. He was exhausted. A double shift on Christmas eve never boded well, but this particular one had been even nastier than expected. Between Newbie's insistent badgering and the five car pileup on the highway, he felt like it had been weeks since he had paused to rest. He was looking forwards to collapsing on his couch with a bottle of scotch and catching a game. He might even order some food, thus reducing his need to move to the very minimum. As he reached his apartment door, he twirled his keys around his finger before grabbing the key to his apartment. Moving to unlock the door, he paused for a moment, surprised.

Hanging around his doorknob was an eerily familiar Polaroid camera. It was Ben's. Had Jordan come home early harboring a yearning to screw with him? And if so, then why this? Seeing the camera would upset her about as much as it upset him. He closed his eyes, not wanting to deal with this right now.

After a moment, he re-opened them, and glanced back at the door. The camera was gone. Oka-aay... he hadn't realized how very exhausted he was. He must honestly be hallucinating. Oh, he was so going to kill Bobo. Interns were the only ones allowed to be so overworked that they hallucinated. Respected attendings on the other hand should only hallucinate if they were having a mild mental breakdown due to a recent trauma and consequently decide _ne-he-hever_ to leave the hospital. Yeah... he had dealt with Ben's death well. Why must his tired mind conjure up painful memories?

Shaking his head, he turned the key in the lock, and stepped into the apartment. No reason to dwell on it.

Dr. Cox tossed his keys on the coffe table, went over to his liquor cabinet, unlocked it, took out his bottle of scotch and a cup, and trod back to the couch. Unstopping the bottle, he poured himself a generous glass and grabbed the remote. Turning on the television, he took a sip.

God, it felt good. He needed to let himself relax more often. As he flipped through the channels, he continued to down the alcohal. Finally he settled on a basketball game and allowed himself to sink further into the couch.

About an hour later, when he was on his third drink, he heard someone knocking on his door. Groaning, he hoisted himself off the couch. However, before he can make it all the way to the door, it opens of its own accord.

"What?" Perry muttered to himself. There was no one there. It was probably just some kids messing with him. Well, they picked the _wrong _day! Growling, he stomps towards the doorway. Looking around the hall, he doesn't see anyone. "Little jerks think they can play with me? I don't think so!"

A blast of cool air came from the hallway and he shivered, quickly closing the door. He would figure this out later.

_"Merry Christmas Percival!"_ Dr. Cox jumped. He could have sworn... nah, it was probably just the wind. Wait... how in the hell was it windy inside anyway? Damn repairmen from last week must have screwed something up.

Shaking his head, he closed the door. He turned back to the couch. And just about jumped out of his skin. Sitting exactly were Perry had been a moment ago was Ben. He had a playful smile on his face and was twirling the remaining scotch around in the bottom of the glass. "Hey Per-Per," he greeted in a childish tone. He seemed infinitely delighted with the stunned look on Dr. Cox's face.

Dr. Cox didn't reply. He just stood there, dumbstruck, repeatedly rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. After a moment, he gathered himself enough to speak. "You… you're dead." Without waiting for a reply, he stumbled towards the couch and collapsed onto it.

"Well, that's one way to put it. I however, prefer existently challenged. Here." Ben handed him the half full glass of scotch which Perry quickly gulped down.

After another few minutes, in which Dr. Cox remained stonily silent, Ben spoke again. "So… are you planning on talking anytime soon? I mean, you hit one of the major issues with the whole, 'you're dead' bit but honestly? I expected so much more."

Taking that as encouragement, Dr. Cox tried to voice some of what he was thinking, "How… why… what… you're dead!" Ben rolled his eyes.

"Sure are repetitive today aren't we? I already covered this. I'll try to be clearer. Yes, I'm dead. I am a spirit. Ghost. Incarnation. Specter. Spook, whatever! Really you shouldn't be surprised. It's not like this is the first time you've seen me."

"I thought… I wasn't hallucinating?"

"Nope" Ben replied, popping the "p."

"Okay then…" For a moment, Perry paused, continuing to massage his head. "So… why in the hell are you here? Not that it's not nice to see you… but, I'm assuming there's a reason?"

"Oh yes, I was sent." Ben said, nodding knowledgably.

"By who?"

"No idea. Let's just say… I was sent by the universe. Ooooo…." Ben joked.

"Okay… fine. Why?" Dr. Cox asked, grinning a little bit. He really had missed his best friend.

"To warn you. See, at the moment, some things are really messed up. A lot of things really. And it's going to get even worse. Screw up a bunch of the plans of the powers that be. But you," at this Ben pointed at Dr. Cox, "can fix it. However, you are both unobservant, uninformed, and tend towards stagnancy…"

"Hey!" Perry protested. He wasn't used to being insulted. Especially not by his dead best friend. Ben gave him a pointed look. "Fine, I guess I can occasionally be the first and last, but I will have you know that I am very well informed. I'm the…"

"Best damn doctor in that hell-hole of a hospital!" Ben finished for him, impersonating his threatening, superior tone. Dr. Cox laughed.

"You do know me." His laugh quickly petered off. "Ben… one thing I've always wanted to ask you, and now that I have a chance… Well, why didn't you see any doctors? Did you know you were out of remission? Why didn't you tell me?"

Ben's smile waned as well. "I… I didn't not see any doctors. For the first nine months, I did. Went in at all the right times. It seemed like everything was going great. Then the last doctor I saw figured out the leukemia was back. And my marrow… was nearly all dead. They had no idea how the other doctors had missed it for so long, and there wasn't anything they could do. So I just… I wanted to have a good time before I went you know? I'm sorry I didn't tell you. You were just so upset last time, and I knew you would waste all you're time trying to somehow fix it. Really sucked that I went when I did though. Never intended for that. Bad timing on my part."

"Yeah…" Dr. Cox squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing them. "Let's not talk about it. So… what's this warning you're here to give me?" Quickly changing moods, Ben chuckled again.

"Actually, I'm here to warn you about the warning. Otherwise, you'd probably have a heart attack. You will be visited by three spirits. The first will come at one in the morning tomorrow. The second at the same time the day after that, and the third will come at midnight on the third day."

"Seriously? More ghosts? What, are those three patients finally going to haunt me?" Perry asked with a bit of trepidation. Talking about opening all of the skeletons in his closet at once.

"No, you won't know these guys. I don't actually know why they do spirits, it's just a thing." Ben looked him over. "I have to go. I'm running out of time. But you listen to those spirits all right? It's important. To you and everyone else you care about."

Startled, Dr. Cox sat upright and looked at his friend. "Don't… can't you just stay a little longer?"

Ben shook his head unhappily. "No, I can't. It isn't my choice. If it was, I would stay. Believe me." He smiled sadly. "It was good to see you. Take care of yourself. And my sister and nephew. Bye Per-Per." With that, the window to his apartment burst open, and Ben was pulled through, leaving the room icy.

Perry stared at his open window. "Bye Ben," he muttered to himself.

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